Design Considerations for and Electronic Voting System
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The Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya (ICPSK) plans to implement a secure online platform for conducting its annual council elections, in collaboration with SavvyAfrica Ltd, a company specializing in web solutions. The proposed e-voting system will include features such as secure authentication, voter and candidate management, and real-time voting results, ensuring a reliable and user-friendly experience. The implementation will also involve a thorough quality assurance process and support mechanisms to address any challenges encountered during the voting period.
Design Considerations for and Electronic Voting System
- 2. The Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya (hereinafter referred to as “ICPSK”) has continued to pursue its strategic agenda of leveraging on technology to give better, efficient and effective service to all members of the Institute and stakeholders. It is for this reason that ICPSK wishes to implement an secure online platform to conduct the annual election of council members.
- 3. SavvyAfrica Ltd is a Kenyan company developing and implementing advanced web solutions. It was registered in 2007 and began operation in 2009. We are providers of ICT-based solutions that enhance operations, communications and collaboration. Our Solution Include; Content Management Systems Domain Registrations, hosting and email management Web Based Applications on PHP/MySQL Mobiles Websites/ Applications ICT Training: Website Development Bulk SMS Solutions Vertical Solutions for Real Estate, Hospitals Hotels, Auto dealers & and Professional membership organizations
- 4. A World of Solutions
- 5. We have the technical and professional competence to develop and support a credible, secure platform to conduct online voting. Our company has implemented complex web based systems; for example we have successfully implements online CPD , online Financial Information system and website for ICPSK a project which involved integrating with the internal accounting system and migration of data from different platforms and databases. We have also developed specialized software for real estate companies, Auto dealers and online Invoicing and payment processing applications for several SMEs.
- 6. The e-voting system to be discussed makes up a relatively small part of the whole election process. From a technical viewpoint the elections are made up of the following components: Calling of elections, Registration of candidates, Preparation of polling list, Voting (a subset of which is e-voting), Counting/ tallying of votes.
- 7. The online e-voting system is made up of: Voter database Candidates System administrators and auditors. Voting software Internet connectivity Server infrastructure
- 8. Request login token Receive token if email is in database Simple but secure authentication system Requires emails to be verified from the admin Token is generated by requesting token on the login page A unique token is generated for each login/voting session Login attempts are limited per duration of time
- 9. View Contested Position View candidate profiles Cast the ballot Client-Side validation will ensure voters cast ballots correctly to eliminate spoilt votes(i.e. limit no of candidates per slot) Can continue accessing the system after voting but will not be able to vote Voting closes automatic on the predefined date. Date and time of voting recorded Voting IP address recorded
- 10. Login and edit profile Edit Candidate name, profile, campaign title, campaign slogan, brief profile, detailed profile Upload profile photo Add campaign unlimited documents per candidate Can perform the same functions as voter
- 11. The technical components of the system Hosting Platform on Linux with Apache HTTP Server. PHP 5.3.27 / MySQL 5.5.40 Processor:2x Intel® Xeon™ Processor E5-2630 v2 6C / 2.6GHz or equivalent 1 GB storage minimum 12 GB RAM Bandwidth: 15MBPS DEDICATED This way the whole e-voting solution will be online based. It will require customer’s registration and login. A MySQL database is used to store and retrieve election data
- 12. Home Configure election Dates Display key election dates Positions Add contested Position Configure position, slots available Edit if necessary Unlimited positions Manage Candidates Add Candidate Edit Candidate name, profile, campaign title, campaign slogan, brief profile, detailed profile Upload profile photo Add campaign unlimited documents per candidate Unlimited candidates Manage voters o Update voter email o Send voters’ token from the administration panel (Admin cannot see the token) o Update on whether a voter is eligible to vote or not
- 13. o View live results o Tally manual votes to the system if available o Generate PDF report for the election when the voting closes
- 14. The system can be accessed from A laptop Computer, Tablet or Smart Phone with sufficiently sized screens The accessing device must have reliable internet connection. The accessing device must be equipped with a modern web browser support of JavaScript and HTML page rendering.
- 15. We are proposing to use proven software that is currently used by several organization. The E- voting Software has gone through following six phases in every Software development life cycle model: Requirement gathering and analysis Design Implementation or coding Testing Deployment Maintenance The software requires to be customized for ICPSK
- 16. It is expected that the user should be able to vote easily online. Voters and administration pages are user friendly. A tutorial will be provided for the users and they shall be required to read the guidelines before accessing the e-voting system Any features requiring internet access shouldn’t take longer than 30-40 seconds. The system should give feedback to the user with a Fail or Success message
- 17. This is online application and there might be many users accessing the resources online concurrently. Our implementation guarantees reliability and is designed for a concurrent load of upto 1000 users The system is built to be highly secure and unquestionable integrity. Information from the client to the server will be encrypted and as such Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) will be used for secure communication between the system components
- 18. For integrity purposed the client is advised to appoint an external systems auditor who shall have and independent view of the systems and process. All data in the systems shall be replicated in a secure autonomous platform to which the auditor shall have a read only access. The auditor is expected to monitor the entire process and submit and independent evaluation. Ideally it should be a qualified, respectable audit firm or individual.
- 19. Our approach to quality assurance involves the following steps, Researching and benchmarking to set high standard in terms of aesthetic design, functionality and use of the latest technologies Iteratively debugging the site with the client incorporating the client input to ensure the final product portrays the desired corporate image Performing standard tests to assure the website is accessible cross platform/ cross device Performing a dry run/mock election, in good time before the election proper to resolve any arising unforeseen issues.
- 20. Service Level Agreement: We intend to achieve the highest level of user satisfaction. Our Draft SLA incorporates service management and service measurement mechanism. We will use open communication channels that include email phone and direct to ensure there is free flow of information between the service provider and customer. Rating And Comments: We shall establish a rating and comments mechanism to receive comments and feedback on the system in case the user succeeds or fails to execute the voting action Helpdesk: A user support help desk will be set up during the entire voting period and assistance will be given to the customer in case they have challenges. Communication channels outlined above will be used
- 21. We shall ensure professionalism to minimize such occurrences Its possible that disputes may arise in this process We shall retain information that may be used in such cases Our company will be available in such cases and we shall provide the resources and expertise that may be required to resolve conflicts. Every voter shall receive an PDF copy of their own ballot via email instantly upon voting. This shall be used in the worst case scenario
- 22. No Task Description Proposed Dates Actual Dates 1 System Presentation and Proposal System Presentation and Proposal of the Evoting Process 2 Demo / Test Drive with Council Members A Mock Election to prove the viabilityof a online voting process and to identify ICPSK use cases and scenarios 3 Modification / Customization Modification of the software to fit ICPSK use cases and scenarios. 4 Calling of elections Announcement of elections and election dates through the institute communication channels 5 Registration of candidates Contestants are Qualified and registered. They also submit theire profiles/ promotionalmaterials to be uploaded into the system 6 Preparation of polling list Compilation of a valid voter database in EXCEL and MySQL format 7 Voting (a subset of which is e-voting), Send the E-voting Link, Instructions and secure access tokens. Actual voting takes place 8 Counting/ tallying of votes. Counting/ tallying of votes and Announcement of results 9 Evaluation Internal/ External Evaluation of the process for future improvement
- 24. National Drought Management Authoriy: Climate Change Online Community of Practice ICPSK- Website ICPSK-Online CPD management System Capabuil Limited: Online Event Registration and Management System/ Invoicing System Toleo: Online Procurement System( Procure to Award)
- 25. Summit House 4th Floor, Rm 402 P.O Box 5188-00200 Nairobi, Kenya Tel: 0720-152151,0771-211102 Email: info@savvyafrica.com Website: www.savvyafrica.com